Three women viewing cherry blossom on a riverbank.

Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865) was the most popular and prolific designer of <em>ukiyo-e</em> in 19th century Japan. He is estimated to have produced between 20,000 and 25,000 designs for woodblock prints during his lifetime. His reputation was clinched when he was in his early twenties; it was as great as that of his teacher Toyokuni I, and lifelong. His status was largely unchallenged in his lifetime, though his reputation was long unfairly neglected because of cyclical attitudes to Japanese prints. Frank Whitford recognised this early on: ‘Perhaps because of his huge output… Kunisada has not been treated well by the historians of <em>ukiyo-e</em>, although much of his work… reached the highest standards.’ His reputation was rescued considerably later than those of Hiroshige and Kuniyoshi, really only dating from the 1990s through the scholarship of Jan van Doesburg and Sebastian Izzard. Kunisada showed the versatility typical of print designers; while best known for his depictions of kabuki and his <em>yakusha-e</em> actor prints, he was also a specialist in <em>bijin-ga</em> (beautiful women) as here, illustrations from <em>The Tales of Genji</em> and more luxurious<em> surimono</em> prints.

If the great 18th century printmaker Isoda Koryūsai capitalises on suggestion, intimacy or informative engagement, as in his <em>Two women reading </em>(Te Papa 2016-0008-23), then the <em>bijin-ga</em> of Kunisada adopt an altogether more pragmatic attitude. Kunisada's three women are <em>yūjo </em>'women for play', from Edo's licensed pleasure quarters, engaged in a <em>hanami</em> (daytime viewing) of <em>sakura</em> (cherry blossom). The association between beautiful young women and <em>sakura</em> resonated themes of the ephemerality of beauty and youth than informs a sensibility of <em>mono no aware</em>, a sensitivity to the pleasure of things. The enclosed pleasure craft in the background reminded viewers of the riverside sex trade and the fleeting nature of pleasure. The triptych format encouraged viewers to make comparisons between these well-known women of the highly competitive world of the pleasure quarters, while promoting trends in fashion and textile design. Although it risks being anachronistic and Eurocentric to call this triptych 'Baudelairian', the eponynous French critic, writing not long after the time it was printed but located a world away, would surely have admired Kunisada's ability to recapture 'the circumstantial element' of beauty, embodying 'the age, its fashions, its morals, its emotions'.

Sources:

Charles Baudelaire, 'The painter of modern life', in Charles Baudelaire, <em>The painter of modern life and other essays</em> (ed. and trs. Jonathan Mayne), London, 1964.

David Bell and Mark Stocker, 'Rising sun at Te Papa: the Heriot collection of Japanese art', https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/document/10608

Frank Whitford, <em>Japanese Prints and Western Painters </em>(London, 1977).

Dr Mark Stocker   Curator, Historical International Art   May 2019